Improving Your Blood Circulation: Part 2 – An Eastern Perspective

August 3rd, 2010

In a previous article, we looked at an Eastern Medicine health condition known as “Blood Deficiency”. Somewhat similar to the Western diagnosis of anemia, Blood Deficiency is a weakness and inability of the Blood to properly perform its job of bringing nourishment to the rest of the body.

Its opposite condition is known as “Blood Stagnation” (or “Blood Stasis”) and is a concept unique to Traditional Oriental Medicine with no direct equivalent in Western Medicine. Blood Stagnation can be thought of as Blood that is no longer able to function as Blood. It is not circulating properly within the body and instead will actually create problems and disease.

One simple example of this would be the case of trauma suffered from a sports injury. The purple discoloration from the bruising that occurs is blood that has leaked out from the blood vessels, and is no longer available for use by the body.

Blood Stagnation is commonly associated with an extremely wide range of symptoms, including:

  • heart problems such as arteriosclerosis & hypertension
  • pressure sensation in the chest
  • shoulder & upper/mid back stiffness
  • dry mouth
  • rough & dry skin
  • liver disease such as hepatitis
  • chronic constipation
  • sciatica & lower back pain
  • varicose veins
  • cold sensation in the body, especially the lower back, legs, & feet, sometimes accompanied by heat sensation in the upper part of the body & face

Many gynecological health problems are also often seen in cases of Blood Stasis, including:

  • irregular menstrual periods
  • painful periods (dysmenorrhea)
  • ovarian cysts
  • uterine fibroids
  • infertility or miscarriage
  • other hormone imbalances

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Becoming More Aware Of Your Health

June 23rd, 2010

In the traditional martial arts is a concept known as zanshin. Literally translated as “remaining mind”, zanshin refers in part to a state of calmness and complete awareness of one’s surroundings, even when there appears to be no immediate threat or danger.

A keen awareness of our environment, both internal and external, is also an important concept in Traditional Oriental Medicine. Because symptoms are viewed as being the result of imbalances in the body, becoming more aware of ourselves and what creates these imbalances in our lives can be useful for improving our health.

Various factors can affect our health, such as:

  • type of work we do
  • location & climate we live in
  • seasonal weather changes throughout the year
  • thoughts & emotions, especially those that tend to be repressed
  • daily eating habits
  • exercise type and frequency
  • trauma & accidents

One suggestion for people suffering from chronic health problems is to keep a health journal. By tracking changes on a day to day basis, patterns can often be discovered, such as certain trigger factors that tend to make symptoms better or worse.

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Medicine in the Kitchen – Dates

April 27th, 2010

The Jujube Date, or Da Zao as it’s known in Chinese, is equally at home in both the kitchen and the herbal pharmacy.

The main use of Dates in Traditional Oriental Medicine is to strengthen and support the digestive system. Some of the symptoms commonly associated with weak digestion include fatigue & general weakness, poor absorption of nutrients, a reduced appetite, and a tendency towards loose bowels & diarrhea.

Adding Dates as part of one’s regular diet can help to improve digestion and increase the body’s ability to make better use of the other foods and nutrients that one eats.

Because some herbs can be difficult to digest, many of the herbal formulas used in Chinese Medicine contain Dates to assist with absorption of the medicinal ingredients while also helping to prevent any stomach upsets or other similar side effects.

When eating Dates on their own, a typical dosage would be about 3 – 10 per day. They may also be added to soups & stews.

If Chinese Dates are unavailable, other types of dates such as the Mediterranean varieties may be used instead. However, because these tend to be much sweeter than the Chinese ones, the dosage should be reduced accordingly.

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Improving Your Blood Circulation: Part 1 – An Eastern Perspective

March 25th, 2010

A strong blood circulatory system, in both Western and Eastern Medicine, is vital to maintaining our good health.

“Blood Deficiency” is a concept unique to Traditional Chinese Medicine and can be thought of as a decreased ability of the Blood to provide the proper nourishment to the rest of the body.

Although somewhat similar in idea to anemia, Blood Deficiency encompasses a much broader range of symptoms, and Eastern Medicine relies on its own methods of diagnosis rather than blood tests to evaluate and treat this condition.

Some of the more common symptoms associated with Blood Deficiency include:

  • fatigue & chronic tiredness
  • pale complexion
  • dry hair & skin
  • brittle nails
  • blurred vision & “floaters” in the eyes
  • poor memory
  • depression
  • insomnia, especially difficulty in falling asleep

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Healthy Habits

January 19th, 2010

As a New Year begins, many of us tend to make resolutions for ourselves, whether it’s losing weight, getting in better shape, or improving our overall health.

Unfortunately, most resolutions – however good-intentioned they may begin – don’t seem to last for very long. Our modern society, with a focus on quick fixes, immediate results, and instant gratification, makes it easy to fall back into old habits and patterns.

In the East, a different approach to self-improvement is taken. In fact, much could actually be learned from the Japanese manufacturing field where they used a concept known as kaizen to become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries. Read the rest of this entry »

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Stress – An Eastern Perspective

October 19th, 2009

Although stress seems to be just an accepted part of everyday living in our modern society, it certainly is nothing new. In fact, one of the oldest Chinese medical textbooks, written over 2,000 years ago, was advising people on how to lower their stress levels so that they could live healthier and better lives.

In Eastern medicine, stress can be roughly categorized into 2 types – physical and emotional – although there is quite a bit of overlap between them because Traditional Oriental Medicine views the body, mind, and spirit as being inter-related to each other.

Physical stress can be caused by many factors, including overwork, not enough rest, environmental toxins, and simply pushing the body too much.

In terms of acupuncture theory, it is the Kidney system which is mostly affected by prolonged physical stress. In Eastern medicine, when talking about the Kidney meridian system, it relates not only to the urinary and reproductive organs, but also encompasses aspects of the entire endocrine system, including the adrenal glands. Read the rest of this entry »

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Yin Yang – Part 2: The see-saw effect

September 23rd, 2009

In a previous article, we looked at the concept of Yin and Yang, and how Traditional Oriental Medicine classifies things in opposite pairings (as in the example of pain, is it at a fixed location or does it move around, does it improve with rest or with movement, is it better with heat or cold, etc.)

To add further to this concept is what can be described as the “see-saw” effect – when one side of something increases, the opposite side tends to decrease in the opposite direction.

In Eastern science, this was most clearly seen observing things in nature such as the sun and moon – as the sun came up in the morning, the moon lowered below the horizon, and mid-day was the brightest when the sun reached the highest point in the sky. The exact opposite then happened as the sun disappeared below the horizon and the moon came up and reached its peak at night.

Although it appears to be a simple concept, it has extremely important clinical value in acupuncture. One common example of this is in the treatment of migraine headaches. The acupuncture pathway usually corresponding to the headaches is called the Gallbladder meridian – this pathway starts at the eyes, travels through the temple area and the sides of the head, down the neck and the tops of the shoulders, and then down the body and legs, ending at the feet. In Traditional Oriental Medicine, it views migraine headaches as usually being caused by stagnant and congested circulation along this Gallbladder pathway. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sports Injuries – An Eastern Perspective

July 18th, 2009

A downside with playing sports or engaging in other physical activities can be the occasional injury, whether it’s spraining your ankle while out hiking, separating your shoulder making that diving catch, or finally getting out and playing that round of golf only to feel pain in your sprained lower back the next day.

Fortunately, the Eastern medical approach can be very useful in the treatment of these kinds of injuries and pain, allowing us to recover faster and get back to our activities.

In order to better follow this approach, it’s useful to understand how Traditional Chinese Medicine views health and injury in terms of the acupuncture meridian system.

Because much of ancient China was an agricultural society, many of the concepts pertaining to this meridian system were traditionally described as being like a network of irrigation channels providing water and nutrients to the surrounding farmland.

In a similar way, the acupuncture meridians of the body can be thought of as an interconnected system of pathways bringing energy, blood, and nourishment to every area of the body, both internally to the organs and externally to the bones, tendons, muscles, connective tissue, and skin.

With injuries such as sprains, strains, fractures, or other similar trauma, these meridians can also get damaged, with their flow becoming impeded.

In Eastern medicine, physical traumatic injuries can usually be classified under the 2 general categories know as “Energy Stagnation” and “Blood Stasis“, although in real life, most injuries tend to have aspects of both. Read the rest of this entry »

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Yin Yang – Part 1: It’s all about balance

May 18th, 2009

You’ve probably seen it before, and may have even wondered what it meant – the Yin Yang symbol, that strange looking circle with a couple of dots and squiggly lines:

Yin Yang Symbol
Yin Yang Symbol

Yin – Yang is actually a concept that comes from ancient Chinese science and philosophy and was an important part of their approach to viewing nature. Originally meaning “the shady side of the mountain” and “the sunny side of the mountain”, Yin and Yang came to symbolize opposing forces of Nature, such as:

  • Moon & Sun
  • Winter & Summer
  • Darkness & Light
  • Water & Fire

(It is interesting to note that much of Western science is also based on this concept, such as positive & negative terminals for electricity, north & south poles for magnetism, acids & bases for chemistry, etc.)

This Eastern way of categorizing everything in Nature as Yin and Yang was later introduced into their system of medicine, and is one of the main ways that both sickness and health is analyzed. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Heart System – An Eastern Perspective

March 12th, 2009

Heart disease, including high blood pressure, heart attacks, and stroke, is one of the leading causes of illness and death in North America and is a major focus in Western Medicine.

Eastern Medicine also places great emphasis on the Heart system and in fact describes it as being like the Emperor of the body – all of the other organ systems are there to work for and support the health of the Heart, as without healthy blood and energy circulation disease soon follows.

The Heart is vitally important in Traditional Oriental Medicine, not only for proper circulation but also for mental and emotional well-being. The Spirit, or Shen as it’s known in Chinese, is regarded as literally residing inside the physical heart.

Many everyday expressions in the English language also demonstrate this close connection between the Heart and Spirit:

  • to express heart-felt appreciation for something
  • to have a heart-to-heart talk with a friend
  • to have your heart set on something
  • to love someone with all of your heart
  • to die of a broken heart

All of these expressions convey a deep sense of meaning that reaches into the inner core of a person. Read the rest of this entry »

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Medicine in the Kitchen – Mint

March 10th, 2009

Many of the herbs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine are actually herbs commonly used in the kitchen for everyday cooking.

Mint, or Bo He as it’s known in Chinese, is quite useful for the treatment of a sore throat. In Eastern Medicine, sore throats are usually viewed as Heat becoming trapped in the acupuncture meridians which travel through the throat area.trans Medicine in the Kitchen Mint

Treatment, whether through acupuncture or herbal medicine, is aimed at promoting the flow of energy in these meridians in order to release this stagnant Heat.

The pungent and cooling properties of mint, either alone or in combination with other medicinal herbs, can be helpful in relieving cases of sore throat, especially those brought on by a cold or flu.

To brew mint tea, use 1 – 2 Tablespoons of mint leaf and steep in 1 cup of hot water for about 5 minutes. Be sure not to cook it for too long, otherwise the volatile oils which contain most of the medicinal properties may evaporate. Several cups of the tea may be sipped throughout the day as needed.

So next time you are starting to feel a sore throat coming on, try mint tea to bring some relief.

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Diet and Weight Loss – An Eastern Perspective

January 23rd, 2009

Calories. Carbs. Fats.

Words quite familiar to most dieters. However, in Traditional Oriental Medicine, the approach to weight loss is quite different.

According to Eastern Medicine, the digestive system, referred to as the Spleen-Pancreas system, includes many other organs such as the stomach and intestines and has the 2 primary functions of “Transformation” and “Transportation“.

The Transformation function refers to the process of breaking down food, digesting it, and absorbing the nutrients – taking food and transforming it into usable energy for the body, a view quite similar to the Western understanding of the digestive system.

On the other hand, the Transportation function of the Spleen-Pancreas system is more unique to Traditional Chinese Medicine and refers to how fluids are kept in balance throughout the body. Under normal healthy conditions, fluids are extracted from food during the Transformation process and are then transported to the various parts of the body to be used as needed, with the rest being removed as waste.

However, when this Transformation function is weakened and no longer properly processing these fluids, some of the excess can get trapped in the body, creating a condition referred to as “Dampness” which can manifest in various ways, including being stored as excess body weight. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ancient Stress Relief

December 29th, 2008

For those of us looking to make our health a higher priority in our lives, one of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s oldest books, compiled in approximately 200 B.C. and titled Huang Di Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine), continues to provide us with a wealth of information for improving our health.

In a particular section of this acupuncture textbook, the Emperor was asking his court physician why people of their day weren’t living as long, compared to those of ancient China.

His doctor replied:

“These days, people have changed their way of life. They drink wine as though it were water, indulge excessively in destructive activities, and deplete their energy… Seeking emotional excitement and momentary pleasures, people disregard the natural rhythm and order of the universe. They fail to regulate their lifestyle and diet, and sleep improperly. So it is not surprising that they look old at fifty and die soon after.”

This description, written over 2,000 years ago, sounds much like our own current situation and the doctor’s advice seems just as relevant for today’s society: Read the rest of this entry »

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The Lung System – An Eastern Perspective

November 17th, 2008

Traditional Oriental Medicine views the Lung system as being part of the respiratory process, bringing in fresh air and energy from our surroundings and distributing this throughout the entire body. Besides the actual lung organ, Eastern medicine also includes the throat and vocal cords, nasal passages, and sinuses.

In addition, the skin and mucous membranes are also regarded as an extension of the Lung system. This connection is commonly seen in children who suffer from asthma or allergies and may later on develop skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis. Treatment is aimed at strengthening the health and functioning of the lungs, resulting in improvement of both the asthma and the skin.

In Eastern medicine, the Lung system is responsible for circulating “Defensive Energy” which travels along the surface of the skin, regulating the body temperature while also protecting the person from outside diseases. It is similar in concept to the immune system, and it is interesting to note that Western medicine views the skin barrier and mucous membranes as an important defense against infectious diseases, something recognized in China well over 2,000 years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Spleen-Pancreas System – An Eastern Perspective

June 1st, 2008

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Spleen-Pancreas system (also commonly just referred to as the Spleen) encompasses all the other organs of digestion, including the stomach and small & large intestine.

Eastern medical theory describes the Spleen as being like the Earth – just as the earth provides food for our nourishment, so the digestive system produces the energy and nourishment needed by the rest of our bodies. Because of this, it plays a central role in our overall health – if we have a strong and healthy Spleen system, we usually have a greater ability to recover from sickness. This effect can easily be seen in serious cases such as the late stages of cancer – once the person’s appetite and digestion deteriorates, the rest of their health often rapidly follows.

According to Eastern medicine, the Spleen is also important in controlling how fluids are distributed throughout the body. Symptoms such as abdominal bloating, fluid retention, edema, and heaviness of the body are all signs of an imbalance in the Spleen system and its inability to properly regulate the fluids. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Liver System – An Eastern Perspective

March 13th, 2008

Traditional Oriental Medicine always views the physical organs, along with their corresponding energy meridian pathways, as an integrated whole. Because of this, when Eastern medicine talks about an organ, it is referring to the entire system which often includes other associated parts of the body, not just the local area of the physical organ.

Emotions in general are said to be controlled by the Liver system, but in particular, anger and frustration are closely related to the Liver.

In the case of an angry, irritable person, the Liver energy is too active and is described as a Fire that rises up towards the top of the body. The normal direction of Liver energy flow, upwards and outwards, has been taken to an extreme, and this can clearly be seen as their voice becomes loud, their body movements become agitated, their blood pressure rises as blood rushes upwards to their head, their face turns red and the eyes become bloodshot, and veins in the forehead become distended.

At the other extreme of the emotional spectrum would be someone who suffers from depression. Instead of the Liver energy travelling upwards and outwards, it begins to stagnate and turn inwards on itself, causing symptoms such as pent-up emotions, frustration, depression, and an inability to express feelings.  Read the rest of this entry »

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The Kidney System – An Eastern Perspective

January 19th, 2008

In Traditional Oriental Medicine, the understanding of the organs is different than that of Western medicine. The physical organs, along with their corresponding energetic meridian pathways are never regarded as independent systems but instead, are always viewed in relation to the rest of the body.

Probably the easiest way to get some insight into Eastern medicine is to look at the extremes of both a young infant and an elderly person, and how similar their characteristics are. In the case of the child, the Kidney system is still in development while for the older person, a weakening Kidney function is just a progression of the natural aging process:

  • bald / balding
  • no teeth / loosing teeth
  • bed-wetting / incontinent
  • weak back & legs / hunched back
  • soft bones & open fontanel / brittle bones
  • undeveloped memory / poor memory
  • undeveloped reproductive organs / declining sexual function

As can be seen from just this brief list, the Eastern view of the Kidney system involves many other parts of the body as well:

  • urinary system
  • reproductive system
  • hormones
  • growth & development
  • bones & marrow, especially the spine
  • brain function & memory

According to Traditional Oriental Medicine, the Kidney is also in charge of controlling the Fluid metabolism throughout the body and could be thought of as the coolant system that prevents things from overheating. For example, a condition commonly treated with acupuncture is the typical menopausal woman where the Kidney system is not doing its job of cooling the body. As a result, this extra heat rises up and collects towards the top of the body, producing symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, shoulder pain, and insomnia. Read the rest of this entry »

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